Mackeral and Higgins take the spoils on 1000 Shakes Nav Trial

Posted: January 21, 2013 10:05 PM

Andrew Mackeral and Liam Higgins took an excellent win on our first motorsport event of 2013, the 1000 Shakes Navigation Trial which was run out of Inchigeela, Co. Cork, with Nial Murphy as COC. The event was Round 5 of Motorsport Ireland National Navigation championship and Round 4 of the Munster Navigation championship.

The competition took place over a route of approximately 110 miles with a total of approximately 70 route checks, all but one were manned. Twenty eight crews started the event with 22 classed as finishers back at Creedon’s Hotel early on Sunday morning. The route proved very challenging with some frosty roads and fog adding to the difficulties.

The event started with some straightforward navigation but tight twisty roads in the Inchigeelagh/Macroom area, followed by some closely-spaced TPs/Vias just East of Reananiree which required maximum concentration and care, with two slippery uphill climbs adding to the pressure on crews. Event winners Mackeral and Higging led from the start with four penalties at the end of Time Card 1. They were joined here by David Beamish and Daire Hayes on the same penalties with Gerard O’Connell and Denis O’Donovan third on five pens. Richard Cassidy and Paul Phelan were tied in fourth place with Dermot Whelton and Barry O’Sullivan on 6 pens, with three crews, Ashley McAdoo and Francis Keenan, Joe and Greg Shinnors and Martin Tynan and Fintan Clerkin all on 7 penalties. A significant early loss was the Impreza of Colin Duffy/Sam Johnston who retired only a few timepoints in, apparently with mechanical difficulties.

Card 2 included a set of 5 even more closely-spaced points just West of Renaniree, with another not too steep but very slippy climb for added interest. While penalties were mounting down the field, the leading crews didn’t fare too badly here, and the leader board hadn’t changed much at the end of this Card, with the Cavan and Cork leading crews maintaining their positions, both now on 6 penalties followed by O’Connell and O’Donovan on 8 and Cassidy Phelan and Tynan Clerkin joint fourth on 10 pens with McAdoo Keehan sixth another pen down.

Card 3, the run to petrol in Clondrohid started with the First Regularity Section and then the traditional (for Macroom) section just North of the N22 between Macroom and Clondrohid which includes some narrow, very twisty roads and a narrow but level, smooth and well-surfaced farm track with very muddy and unforgiving (for those who slipped into it) ground each side.

Mackeral Higgins maintained their lead here, but a penalty free Card 3 helped Cassidy/ Phelan move into second place one penalty off the lead. O’Connell O’Donovan and Tynan Clerkin were joint third with Beamish and Hayes hanging onto fifth. Sixth place was shared by McAdoo Keenan and Michael Murphy and Pat Cashman.

It was there we lost our only ladies crew when the Astra of Elaine Shinnors and Meg Brady suffered a broken radiator while the similar car of Matt Shinnors and Brian Duggan was also out, having also suffered a broken radiator (well actually, in their case, the rad wasn’t too bad – a wishbone and a few panels were slightly worse!)

The first card in part two saw the crews head back to Reananiree via Ballymakeera, and then to just West of Ballingeary via a regularity Section, It included the also traditional set of tight twisty roads and Farm Tracks West of Petrol, but with some new lanes added, and a layout that needed maximum concentration in places. It had the top three crews each lose 7 penalties to maintain the status quo with O’Connell O’Donovan drop 11 to move back to fourth. A missed TP here saw Beamish Hayes drop to seventh while Joe & Greg Shinnors were now eight. Novice crew Martin Dolan and Eoghan McCarthy moved to second novice place while No.1 seed Pakie Duffy and Nigel McCloughry were 10th.

Card 5 took the Cars clockwise around the mountain South of Ballingeary. It started with a set of two downhill lanes off the main road to Bantry. These were rougher than ideal, but were short and downhill and very passable with only limited time loss - the trick was to find them, with the entry to the first lane in particular causing headaches for many. The fact that they were on Plot and Bash added to the pressure. After these, a glorious 11 minute section around the West Side of the mountain led to TP118 at what, in daylight, seemed a very obvious downhill hairpin right. In the dark however, it was a different story, and any crew missing the slot were faced with the choice of returning for a Double Visit or a very long detour. Again the effect was for penalties to mount down the field, while the leading crews fared much better. Also, there was, near the end of this loop, an early bath for everyone – a ford across stream (actually more a river) on the approach to TP 120.

By the end of this section, there was a notable change at the top, with another penalty free card pushing Cassidy Phelan up into joint first place. The McAdoo Keenan crew also had a good run here increasing their third place advantage. Beamish Hayes also had a good run back in fifth while the Shinnors brothers had just one penalty to move to joint sixth.

The final card saw the crews loop anti-clockwise from Ballingeary to the finish near Inchigeelagh. Apart from a lane Approach to the final Control, it was all tarmac, and fairly straightforward, but again the nature of the roads saw all crews drop time. Mackeral Higgins with five extra pens giving them a total of 22, but Cassidy Phelan dropped 7 here to finish second (first Expert) on 24 with McAdoo Keenan taking 3rd place (and first Semi Expert) on 37 penalties. Second Expert were O’Connell O’Donovan with Beamish Hayes third Expert.

Second Semi Expert were Dermot Whelton Barry O’Sullivan with third Semi Expert place going to Stephen Clarke Michelle McCarthy.

Top Novice crew were Tynan Clerkin from Dolan McCarthy second and Owen Murphy Grace O’Brien third.

In the Beginner section Gerry Kelly and Seamus McTigue were first from Richie and Richard O’Mahony in second and David O’Donoghue and Tadhg Gavin third.

The event finished at 4.45 a.m., with all cars in by about 5.30. Results were posted at 6.30, with breakfast in the Hotel in the interim. There were, in effect, no queries, and prizegiving was over by 7.15 a.m.

Three crews who had entered the event were unable to start. The unavailability of IRDS insurance for Johnny Kenneally and Ken Carmody, David Forde and Sean Henehan plus Brian O’Mahony and Lisa Gallwey saw all three forced off the starters list. A new broker with MI has been cited as the cause

Bad luck stories on the night included No 2 seeds Colin Duffy and Sam Johnston ended their event very early on when the Co. Longford crew failed to finish the first time card. Another crew to suffer bad luck were Beginners Keith McConnor and Michael McCluskey who were on their way to an award only to miss the second last control.

A notable feature was, that, between the top 8 finishers, involving well over 500 individual visits to marshalled points, there was only one single missed point. Overall, it was another classic “1000 Shakes”, and thanks are due to all who helped, including Asst CoCs Sean Daly & Tom Sheehan, Chief Marshal Kiera Daly, Event Secretary Edel Fahy and husband Brendan, plus Donal Healy, Dan Duggan and Laurence Hartigan for results, and of course the many marshals, not least those from Skib, and in particular the “uninsured” entrants, who, despite not being able to start, turned up and marshalled on the night.

Regulations Available

Note from COC

Posted: January 3, 2013 4:54 PM

"As usual on the Shakes, the Route is meant to be tough/ interesting/ demanding/ rewarding on/for both drivers and navigators, but not to be a car breaker.

We make no apologies for the tight, twisty, loose, muddy or Blind brow bits (if you don’t like these, you’re on the wrong event), but there are, unavoidably, a very limited number of rougher than ideal sections, and there are two slippery uphill sections, as well as one narrow lane with thorny bushes each side.
While, as usual, my standard non limo’ed (but now sump-guarded and knobblied) RWD road car has been or will have been over the entire route, people wishing to “protect” their cars may wish to skip these sections.

Accordingly, in a new feature for Nav events, these sections will be identified on the night, and so may skipped if desired. (Even if all 4 or 5 such points are skipped, the 80 to 100 penalties that would result still be less than the winners total on some events).

Last year, there were 79(!) points to be visited (this year “only” 60+), Despite this, last years winners were on 17 penalties, and the top 10 all under 100, with only 3 missed points in total between these 10 crews. We expect similar figures this year. It is our intention that event will be decided by the skill of the crews, not by lucky choices of what to skip or the ground clearance or traction of the cars.

Maps required: 79(3rdEd), 85(4th Ed) & 86(3rd Ed)

HQ Creedons Hotel, Inchigeela

(Sorry about requiring 3 Maps, but the good news for those entering the 100 Isles two weeks later is that 85 & 86 can be re-used then).